“Wait Till August” – Alan Ishida
June 27,2014
With little surface water this year Tulare County farmers are pumping hard on the aquifer in early summer. But this drought is just getting started. You feel it more in the rural parts of the county. About a dozen small water systems,mostly in farmworker towns, are appealing for emergency financing to restore their systems while home owners in the unincorporated areas see their wells going dry.
County supervisor Alan Ishida says he not surprised by the number of request for help.”We are in deep trouble now – but wait until August.”
Indeed, water engineer Dennis Keller says individual home wells are going dry at a rapid pace. “I’ve been getting about 3 calls a week from home owners looking for help because their well has gone dry.”
“We have 75 more days of the irrigation season and those deeper ag wells will just keep pumping” while more nearby more shallow private wells will be going dry. Keller says monthly measurements of groundwater show they have dropped over 50 ft in a months times in some areas.
County administrator Denise England says an informal count of the number of private wells in trouble as of early June has 35 homes out of well water and another 200 nearly out.That’s only the home owners we’ve heard about” says England. “Those who have contacted an agency for help.We think there are many more.” England, who sits on the county’s Drought Task Force, says there is some funding for private wells but it is limited.
Meanwhile Tulare County’s rural water systems are suffering from drought like the rest of us but arguably more so. This month they are appealing for help from both federal and the state government to drill new wells, lay new line to hook up to larger systems, buy water or add new storage with most applications filed on an “emergency” basis.
Dennis Keller says a number of emergency applications will get funding quickly as the process has been streamlined but they will probably not spell relief this summer with the exception of water purchases “This really meant to drought-proof these towns for the next dry year.”
England says some rural systems are getting relief by hooking up to larger water providers. Chinowith Apts in rural Visalia recently hooked up to Cal Water as did Cameron Creek. In rural Porterville,E Vandalia homepark recently hooked up to the city. North of Visalia,Patterson Tract system has added outlying homes.
Near Tulare the rural subdivision Matheny Tract is getting hooked up to city water but now the city is hesitant to start supplying them, says England, as the city itself is facing reduced supply. A new deeper well might be needed to supply those homes.
Meanwhile don’t look for much relief from the Bureau of Reclamation fears Keller.Hopes that more water can be released from Shasta later this year are being dashed by recent lower estimates of what will be available from the state’s largest reservoir – as of September 30, some 200,000 acre ft lower than earlier estimates.